If I am going to figure out what a religion believes, I will ask the people who practice that religion, not a believer of another religion who is trying to 'discredit' the first religion, in an effort to 'prove' their religious beliefs correct.
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This would seem to be a reasonable approach. But there are problems with it. Asking National Socialism whether genocide was genocide would have resulted in an answer in the negative "Ridding the world of vermin" would likely be the answer received. Does this mean National Socialism was objectively about vermin eradication. Don't read into the analogy as me comparing RC with NS. I don't mean it so. But it illustrates the problems of dealing internally with a particular belief system.
I know Faith is (supposedly) gone, but...
The point being made is that if you want to understand what a group "believes they believe", then you ask a member of the group, not a critic of the group.
The point is not that one can judge the validity of the belief by asking a member of the group.
That is a seperate issue.
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